page_title: Falkland Palace
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Falkland Palace / Description
caption_attribution_description: Maintained by the National Trust for Scotland.
context_page_description: Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is under the stewardship of Ninian Stuart, who delegates most of his duties to The National Trust for Scotland.
context_section_description: The palace has two wings arranged in an 'L' shape, now called the South and East Quarters or Ranges. The palace courtyard is entered through the gatehouse tower at the west end of the South Quarter. The external ashlar façade of the South Quarter has gunloops at basement level. Above these are the small windows of the private lodgings, and on the second level the large paired windows of the Chapel Royal. Between these windows are weathered niches and statues. The corbels show the instruments of the passion; the chapel at Falkland was dedicated to St Thomas and is the Catholic parish church for Falkland with Mass every Sunday at 9 a.m. The wallhead is finished with a decorated cornice and battlement which continues around the west side of the gate tower. To the east of the chapel there is small rectangular sectioned tower which once housed a circular staircase, and beyond is the partly reconstructed gable of the East Quarter. Although some writers have attributed part of the South Quarter to the time of James IV, the form of the gunloops, the continuous parapet, and the documented payments to Peter the Flemishman for the 5 statues in 1539 adequately demonstrate that the present appearance dates from the works of James V. Within, visitors can view the Keeper's Apartments in the Gatehouse tower, the Chapel Royal and gallery.
  The East Quarter, apart from its courtyard façade is ruined. The centrally placed access tower, the Crosshouse, was reconstructed by the Marquis of Bute. The National Trust's architect, Schomberg Scott recreated the King and Queen's bedchambers within. The northern section of the East quarter was originally a lodging built by James IV. This part of the building, with its "back galleries" overlooking the garden was decayed in 1615. In 1616 The master of works, James Murray of Kilbaberton was ordered to repair the flat roof of the King and Queen's galleries and the roof of the lodging of the East Quarter min anticipation of the visit of James VI.
  The South and East courtyard façades were decorated and unified with pilasters in a French Renaissance style between 1537 and 1542. Their appearance is comparable to the French Chateau of Villers-Cotterêts. The buttresses on the East are dated 1537, and on the South, where the masonry is more sophisticated, 1539. The later work may be connected with Nicolas Roy, a French mason sent to Scotland in March 1539 by Antoinette of Bourbon, the mother of Mary of Guise.  The chapel ceiling dates from the time of James V and was re-decorated for the visit of Charles I in 1633. James Murray, master of works, was ordered to repair the roof of the South Quarter in 1625, with instructions to "have a special care and regard" that the great ceiling of the Chapel be "preserved and kept as far as possibly may be."
  The courtyard was originally finished with a great hall to the north. The footprint of the building was established by excavation and laid out with paving slabs by the 3rd Marquis of Bute.
caption: Falkland Palace, entrance façade
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon DIGITAL IXUS 800 IS", "Image DateTime": "2008:05:19 14:38:56", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Tag 0x1001": "2272", "Image Tag 0x1002": "1704", "Image ExifOffset": "150", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:05:19 14:38:56", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:05:19 14:38:56", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "133/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "159/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1704", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "90880/9", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1704000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}